Total! Fucking! Self Destruction!

   Ooooooh yeah, this one's a beast! One of my favorite splits from 2 of some of the most original grindcore bands going right now; the mighty Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Total Fucking Destruction together bring us the "Frontside Nosegrind EP"! This is a 2009 repress on some sexy solid red vinyl, limited to 1000, released on Bones Brigade Records. I got it from Hells Headbangers.

   There are so many good things to say about this 7". First off, Outstanding artwork! Incredibly colorful and detailed, and dare I say beautiful with some very impressive gloss. I love looking at this thing. Look on the inside and you'll see how this split got it's name. *WARNING* Graphic Imagery Alert!

   Brutal stuff, but the dude seems stoked, so whatever. 

   I can't say enough good things about Agoraphobic Nosebleed, I'm never disappointed by their output, which is super impressive since they're always changing styles. I love em so much, they have the esteemed honor of having their logo sewn on to my favorite hat. On this split they open up with one of my personal favorite songs from them; "Self Detonate". A sort-of fast, grooving powerviolence epic with Jay Randall spewing out some of the best lyrics he ever wrote. The 2 other songs on their side follow the more familiar very fast ANb formula. Another cool note, Pete Benumb does the vocals on the track "Degenerate Liar". Perfect.

   Total Fucking Destruction's contribution is good, but a hell of a lot weirder. 2 tracks, the first of which being a noisy, seemingly structureless jam with spoken word vocals. The last track is a blindingly fast cover of The Exploited - "Sid Vicious Was Innocent".  Not my favorite songs from TFD, but I really admire their characteristically weird grind. I'm having the pleasure of opening for TFD for the second time in May. Sure to be amazing.

   This split if fairly easy to find, and every time I see it around it's for a good price, so if you see one, get it and blast that shit at top volume! GRIND!!

Endless Repent!

   This is a little underground beauty; a split 7" between OSK/Scumbelly. This was self released by the bands I believe, I got it from the always reliable To Live a Lie records for about $3.50.  Clear vinyl, cut to 45 RPM, don't know how many were pressed.

   I got this just because of the OSK side, specifically for the last song on their side "Endless Repent" which is one of the best powerviolence songs I've heard in a while. That endtro is epic as fuck! Also good to note that OSK has a few members of Massgrave.

   The Scumbelly side I could do without, I didn't dig it at all really. Poor song writing and lack of good riffs did it for me. Nothing special on their side of this.

     There are a few weird things going on with this piece of wax. For one, there are these weird black dots in the vinyl. At first I thought it was just some dust, but it's actually in there. I haven't really seen anything like it since my clear copy of Total Fucking Destruction - "Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction" LP. It doesn't seem to effect the sound or the needle, so whatever. My shitty camera can't pick them up without the picture becoming blurry.

   Also, you get the bare minimum in term of packaging with this release. Just the cover sleeve and vinyl, no insert, no lyrics, no nothing. The vinyl doesn't even come with a dust sleeve, which is very bizarre. 

   Dig the crazy-colored-pencil-drawing-artwork though.

   To Live a Lie records still has a few copies of this available, so if it sounds like your thing, pick it up, if only for the OSK side.

BENEATH THE CONCRETE

Resistant Culture-"All One Struggle" Clear LP (1,000 Copies)

I picked up this beast on Record Store Day 2011 at Phono Select in Sacramento for a whopping $12. They play a nice mixture of Crust/Grind with heavy tribal intertwined throughout, Chanting, tribal drums, flute, rattle, with a thick inhumanly gruff vocal delivery. A Sick as Fuck avante guarde monster of a n LP!

This gatefold is super glossy, I don't even like to touch it because I leave my slimey fingerprints all over it, so most of the time I admire it through the LP sleeve I purchased.

This gatefold opens up to reveal the Mayan Ruins with a large swirling light projecting toward the skies surrounded by a Nuclear Power plant, a concrete bridge in ruins, and mother nature looks pissed. 2012 anyone?Inside is this 24"x 36" HUGE poster.

And I finally have my first clear LP and she's a beauty. Surprised I actually found one of the 1,000 thousand of these in existance through Seventh Generation Records especially at my local record store. And all thanks to my favorite holiday of the year Record store Day.

The Inalienable-Fucking-Dreamless

   Happy goddamn Record Store Day y'all. Hope you all had a blast going to your local record stores and supporting them and the artists by giving them your money! I know I did, I got this little beauty right here. Pioneering, technical, forward thinking grindcore at it's finest. I've wanted Discordance Axis - "The Inalienable Dreamless" ever since I got into grindcore, and the only copy I saw for sale was a used CD version on Amazon.com for about 35 bucks. So to have it on vinyl is outstanding. Limited to 300 copies on black vinyl, repressed for Record Store Day by Hydra Head records.

   Unfortuatly, due to my shitty camera, I can't take as many pictures as I wanted (or have them turn out presentable in any way). But this piece of wax is a beauty. The stark, landscape cover artwork is quite a contrast to the chaotic, dissonant grindcore it holds. 

The vinyl sounds pretty good, the bass levels are up pretty high though, so some of the higher note riffs don't come out to well, which is a bit of a disappointment, but it sure as hell doesn't take any of the intensity away. 

   Hydra Head was kind enough to include the DVD sized booklet the earlier pressings came with. Hard-to-read font and everything. 

More beautiful ocean landscape.

   Hydra Head sold out of these things real quick, so good luck trying to find one outside of ebay. But if you find one for cheap, do yourself a favor and get it. I promise you you won't be disappointed.

Retaliate

   Here is something that you don't see around very often; Kill the Client - "Cleptocracy". I got this from the always reliable Hells Headbangers for a really good price. The record itself was released on Rescued from Life records. 18 tracks of pure, filthy, ugly ass, brutal grindcore (the last track is a cover of Infest - "Terminal Nation") from one of the best newer grind bands around. This thing is vicious. One look at the fantastic album art should tell you what you're in for; to the point, unrelenting brutality.

   There's really not a whole lot of bad things I can say about this LP. It blasts, it thrashes, it grooves (sometimes). It's a beast. The production on this thing is raw and distorted as fuck, hard to hear everything sometimes, but it's one intense listen. Any fan of grindcore should get this. 

   Comes with a two sided insert with lyrics included. 

   I believe this is limited to 600 on black, and I haven't seen it anywhere else except Hells Headbangers, so if you happen upon it, pick it up cause who knows when you'll ever see it again. 

Adieu Dear Friend

   Here's a little beauty of a 7", brought to us by my favorite canadian grind freaks Fuck the Facts. The "Unnamed EP" came out last year, and was one of my favorite releases of 2010. I bought this from their drummer the first time I saw them in my hometown of Ithaca, NY.

  Six tracks, three new songs exclusive to this release, one instrumental interlude, and two older tracks. One coming from their "Mullet Fever" album and one from the "Overseas Connection" split with Sergent Slaughter. 

   I really have to applaud Fuck the Facts for this release. They financed and released this thing completely on their own, no label help what so ever. The packaging is very elaborate and intricate, some of the most professional looking I've seen for a DIY release. The creepy face drawings were done by their singer. 

   The vinyl itself was limited to 500 hand numbered copies (I got number 495/500), 400 on black and 100 on clear. A few of my luckier friends got clear versions. Truth be told, I've only listened to the vinyl once, since it came with a free download card I've mostly been listening to it on my ipod. The production is very good, the bass guitar is a little low in the mix though. I think there are still vinyl copies available from the band, but you can download it on their bandcamp page. Go for it, you will not be disappointed!

Where's the Unity?

   Here is the first post to this new blog, and I got to start this out strong. So here's my most recent vinyl score I purchased today at my fantastic local record store Angry Mom Records. Y'all should know Infest; legendary, pioneering west coast powerviolence from LA. This is their first full length album released on a Swiss label called Off the Disk records.

   Note the album cover. This is the original art used on the first pressing. Later pressings like the Deep Six records reissues used the stark black-and-white-prisoners-of-war photo. The type of imagery that has become synonymous with Infest. Also note the fugly-ass white bar on the side. I don't know why that's there, but sadly, this means that this is not an OG pressing.  

                                      

   This is an unofficial release that apparently came out last year. The label that put it out seems to be a spin-off of Off the Disk records. The matrix etchings say OTD 2, try and figure that out. However, for an unoffical release, this thing sounds surprisingly good! All the instruments are heard, the vocals sound pissed, the bass is crusty as fuck. The drums are a bit muffled, but not a lot. Overall, it's a pretty decent sounding boot. I've had good luck with unoffical Infest releases actually. I bought a boot of their 1987 demo on 12" a while ago, and it definitely does not suck.

   Whoever put this out did a great job with the presentation. All the colors are very bold, especially the whites. The blue center label is a nice touch as well.

   I especially dig the insert with that great photograph of Joe Denunzio screaming his guts out.  Lyrics are included on the flipside of the insert as well. The vinyl itself seems to have this really dark blue color, but it doesn't seem to be transparent or anything.